Just for Fun Avian ID Quiz #6

As always, the “Just for Fun Avian ID Quiz” is brought to you by Jory Langner, our esteemed Avian Quizmaster. A word of warning before you scroll down and try this quiz: Jory is just back from the southwestern United States and it seems like he caught some excess sun (that, or maybe he was experimenting with peyote!?!). You’ll see why we here at 10,000 Birds are concerned when you start reading the clues (we’re not sure that the quiz really has an answer, but I guess we’ll find out by Friday).

This week’s quiz is short and obscure. Rules remain the same…try to guess in as few clues as possible what regularly occurring bird in the ABA area (Code 1-3) is being described.

A new twist, however, the answer and discussion will be posted this coming Friday rather than Saturday. All those extra days don’t seem to matter all that much, since your answers come flying in quickly.

For this quiz, a hint is in order. For those of you who have followed the quiz from the beginning, you might remember how this quiz was created. It came during the Muckrace, when Corey and Mike invited me and Will to join them in the 24 hour big day competition at Montezuma in upstate NY. I was having some fun reading key sentences out of field guides and seeing if my three co-Muckracers could guess the species. This quiz came as a result of that game. I use birding references (books, the internet, etc) to create each quiz. This week, however, I’ve obfuscated the clues horribly.

The question that needs answering is at the end of the list of clues.

1. If you were birding in the 1940’s or before, this species wouldn’t count on your official year list.

Jory's first field guide-identified bird was a Northern Cardinal. This turned out to be his gateway drug into birding. In 2007 Jory became the least accomplished birder to see 300 birds in New York State in one year. He has birded the world over but maintains his birding "beginner mind", of which he is inordinately proud. Just ask him. Jory is the 10,000 Birds Avian Quizmaster, coming up with ever more diabolical ways to stump his legion of devoted fans. He lives with his wife and the possessions of his children just outside of Albany NY.

1. It’s an introduced Eurasian species, and might not have been recognized as legit back then.
2. “The Name Game”: There was some dispute over the designation “Cygnus olor” in the 1930s.
3. Shhh is a rough cognate for “mute.”
4. This one baffled me.
5. There are no sub-species of Mute Swan

BTW: Regarding the crossword: There has never been one that I’m aware of that could be worked ENTIRELY differently, but the New York Times puzzle of Nov. 5, 1992 could be worked with either “George Bush” or “Bill Clinton” as the correct answer to the clue “Winner of yesterday’s US Presidential election”.

– Paul, et al … I tried to find when Mute Swan was recognized by the ABA and cannot find that info. Can anyone help?
– Paul … question #4 is quite important in this puzzle. See if you can hone in on that.
– David … what’s your thinking on Long-billed Dowitcher?

My first guess was also Mute Swan. I found a history of the AOU checklist, and the swan was first on that checklist in 1931. I haven’t found a history of the ABA list, so I don’t know when it was added there.

I’m not sure whether to be confident or apologetic, but here’s my thinking:

1. Long-billed Dowitcher was split (again?) in the 1950s, so it wouldn’t have been recognized as a species in the ’40s.

2. Ummm … ? Possibly a reference to the scientific name (the genus and species names both end in -us), but I’m grasping at straws.

3. OK, I had remembered reading that one dowitcher species calls while feeding in flocks but the other doesn’t. I haven’t ever really found that very useful in the field (lack of experience?) so didn’t remember which was which. I was thinking maybe Long-billed Dowitcher tended to be silent, but I looked it up in Sibley, and it’s the other way around. So that’s one of the reasons my theory fell apart. On the other hand, the chatter is described as “soft.”

4. Juvenile dowitchers can be told apart by the patterns of their tertials and scapulars.

5. Long-billed Dowitcher is monotypic.

Extra credit: The fact that you mention alternate plumage made me think that this was probably a species that HAD alternate plumage, which dowitchers certainly do. Alternate plumage is also called “breeding plumage” and is the plumage birds have during courtship and breeding. “Basic” plumage is the plumage birds have when reproductive hormones aren’t in full swing.